Introduction

Welcome to Wild In Britain, an occasional and irregular photo journal of my encounters with all types of wildlife in the British Isles. All species featured on the site are wild, and all photographs are the copyright of Ben Locke. For prints and licensing click here. Please also take a look at my main site BenLocke.co.uk

Monday, August 03, 2015

Many evenings this summer have been dedicated to studying the Nightjar here in the Forest of Dean. As the sun goes down and the light fades, the Nightjar activity begins. We managed to find a nest this year, and took the opportunity to install a motion sensitive trail camera on it. This video summarises a huge amount of video clips (over 9 hours in all), starting from a day before hatching, and finishing with a hurried desertion of the nest site due to the risk of being trampled by Fallow Deer. Earlier in the sequence, a similar fate almost occurs, but the chicks are immobile, leaving the male bird to harass the deer away. Lots of other interesting behaviour and vocalisations were recorded. The bird pictured in the previous photo is the female parent that features in this video. More photos to follow soon...